Decelerating device



Jan. 9, 1962 D. A. BEYTES DECELERATING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 26, 1960 INVENTOR Denice A BelTS BY KDJQuLuA MQ-Wdu ATTOR N EY Jan. 1962 D. A. BEYTES 3,01

DECELERATING DEVICE Filed Jan. 26, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 e4 68 1 4% 5 HL 2 INVENTOR Dame H. BYT s ATTORNEY 1 3,016,126 DECELERATHNG DEVICE Deane A. Beytes, Norwalk, Conn, assignor to Pitney- Bowes, Inc., Stamford, Conn, a corporation of Dela:

ware

Eiled Jan. 26, 1960, Ser. No. 4,800 I 4 Claims. (Cl. 198--140) This invention relates to a device for decelerating articles such as letter mail when the latterare rapidly fed edgewise.

According to mail conveying apparatus of the type disclosed in US. patent application Serial No. 786,134, filed on January 12, 1959, to E. W. Tangard, now Patent No. 2,970,684, a conveyor is provided which includes a plurality. of successive receivers or pockets movable from a pocket-loading location to and past a plurality of pocketdischarge locations. At the pocket-loading location, articles such as letter mail are fed edgewise one at a time by a stationary feeding device to succeeding ones of said pockets (not necessarily to immediately succeeding pockets) individually to load each of the latter with a letter for transport to one of the pocket-discharge locations. The greater the speed of movement of the conveyor and the smaller the opening of the pockets in the direction of conveyor movement, the greater, of course,

.must be the speed at which the letters are fed by the feed- :ing device.

The greater the speed at which the letters are fed, the more pronounced becomes the problem of bouncing of the fed letters when they are stopped. One disadvantage of excessive bouncing of the fed letters is the occurrence of jams which result when a letter bounces sufiiciently that a portion thereof projects to a point outside the confines of a pocket and between a fixed part and a moving part of the conveyor. Another factor is that the greater the feeding speed of the letters, the more likely will bejthe possibility of damage occurring to the letters,

particularly to the leading edges thereof, when the letters "ice after a fed letter of comparatively small mass has been arrested in the direction of feed of the letters; FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 but showing the parts just after a fed letter of comparatively larger mass has been arrested in the direction of feed of the letters; I

FIG. 4 is also a view similar to that of FIG. 2 but showing the parts just after resetting of the decelerating device prior to the deceleration of another fed article;

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view broken away in part and showing one of the pockets in association with the upper portion of the decelerating device; and

FIG. 6 is a top' plan view of the decelerating device. In FIG. 1, a movable pocket, a feeding unit and a decelerating device according to the invention are generally designated at 20, 22 and 24, respectively. Pocket 26 is a representative one of a plurality of successive pockets of the conveyor disclosed in the above-noted patent application of E. W. Tangard. Reference may be had to this application for details of the structure and operation of this conveyor. For the purposes of this description, however, it will suffice tonote the following. Referring to FIG. 5v along with FIG. 1, each pocket 20 is formed by two sets of elements 26 and 28. Elements 26 are mounted on a shaft and elements 28 are mounted on a shaft 32 to form the pocket 20 with a closed bottom rality of members adapted to extend transversely of the path of feed of the articles. Yieldable means are provided for restraining said members against movement in the direction of feed of the articles whereby at least a portion of the kinetic energy of each fed article is dissipated when .the latter are deflected upon being struck by each fed article. In this manner, the tendency for each fed article to bounce is reduced.

Accordingly,an object of this invention is to provide a novel device for decelerating rapidly fed articles.

A further object of the invention is the provision of animproved device for preventing excessive bouncing of rapidly fed articles.

Another object of this invention is to provide a unique device for reducing damage to articles when rapidly'fed.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a new device for dissipating at least a portion of the kinetic energy of rapidly fed articles.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational View partly in section and with parts broken away, this view showing a pocket of a conveyor directly below a letter feeding unit and above a decelerating device according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a portion of the deceleratingdevice and showing the parts just and an open top. Elements 26 and 28 are alternated with and in laterally spaced relation to each other. Shafts 30 and 32 are supported for movement to the right as viewed in FIG. I and toward the viewer as viewed in FIG. 5, by means such as that shown at the right-hand side of FIG. 5, which includes a portion 34 of the conveyor frame carrying a rubber track 36 on whichrides a roller 38 mounted on each of theshafts .30 and 32.

Feeding unit 22 includes a pair of feed rollers 40 and 42 mounted on shafts 44 and 46, respectively, the latter being supported by side standards 48 (only one of which can be seen in FIG. 1) carried, in turn, by frame structure 50 of the conveyor. Feeding unit 22 is arranged to operate in timed relation Withmovement of the conveyor to feed a piece of letter mail through a chute 52 into each of succeeding ones of the pockets20. More than one feeding unit 22 may be provided, in which case each feeding unit will feed a letter to only certain succeeding ones of the pockets. For example, four feeding units may be provided in tandem along the length of the conveyor. In this case, eachfeeding unit 22 would ordinarily be timed with the movement of the conveyor to feed a 54 and 56, respectively, against which letters-are fed edge- Wise by the feeding unit 22. FingersSd-are mounted for pivotal movement about a shaft 58, andf fingers 56 are mounted for pivotal movement about a. shaft 60. Shafts 58 and 60 extend through an aperture in each of the fingers mounted thereon and are supportedat their ends, in substantially parallel relation to each other, by side walls 62, 62 of the frame of the decelerating device. It will be understood that side wallsf62, 62 are supported by frame structure (not shown) of the conveyor.

A plurality of annular hubs 64 are pinned at 66 to both of shafts 58 and 60,.one foreach one of the fingers 54, .56

. mounted thereon. A friction washer 68 and an anti-fric- PatentedJan. 9, race v spring 72 engaging an anti-friction Washer 70, and the other end of each spring 72 engaging an annular hub 74 adjustably secured to the respective one of the shafts 58, 6G by a set screw '76. The position of each one of fingers 54 and 56 along the respective one of shafts $8 and 60 is determined by the locations at which the hubs 64 are pinned to the respective shaft. Each hub 76 is individual- 1y adjusted along the respective one of shafts 53 and 6t! and then secured in adjusted position by its set screw 76 individually to adjust the amount of resilient bias exerted by each spring '72 against a respective one of anti-friction washers 70. Each spring '72 biases an anti-friction washer '{it toward one of the fingers 54, 56 thereby to bias that tmger against a friction Washer 63 which is backed up by a hub 6.4. In this manner, a yieldable means is provided for frictionally restraining each of the fingers" 54, 56

against pivotal movement about the respective one of shafts 58, '60. Friction washers 68 are formed of a material having a comparatively high coefiicient of friction such as leather or cork, and anti-friction washers '76 are formed of a material having a comparatively low coeflicient. of friction such as nylon. When anyfinger is pivotaliy defiected about its shaft against the frictional restraint there'against, as occurs each time a letter is fed thereagautst by the feeding unit 22, at least. a 'ortio'n of the kinetic energy of the fed letter is dissipated by the friction between the adjacent friction washer 68 and the finger and/ or by the friction between the adjacent friction washer its and. the respective one of hubs 64. in this manner, the tendency for that fed letter to bounce and the possibility of damage thereto is correspondingly reduced. Whether the finger slips relative to the friction washer 68 or the latter slips relative to the next adjacent hub 64 or both occur is immaterial since it is the cumulative friction which develops with pivotal movement of the respective ringer by which kinetic energy of fed letters is dissipated ardless of which of these three possibilities occurs. Each anti-friction washer slips, with only a very small amount of friction, relativeto the adjacent spring '72 and tingst when the latter is pivetaily deflected, thereby reducmg the tendency for torque to be applied to the spring. it can be seen that any torque applied to one end of any spring 72 will be absorbed, at least in part, by the spring and subsequently exerted thereby against the finger rather than being dissipated as friction.

As is apparent from FIG. '1, all of the fingers '54, '56 extend transversely of the path of feed of the letters fed y it 22, and a bove the bottom of the pockets As Can seen in FIG. 5, one of the fingers 54, 56 is aligned with the space between each two adjacent ones of pocket elefnchts 26, 28. Pockets 20 continuously move to the night, and during the downward feeding movement of the letters, the latter will be moved to the right by and with the respective pockets. Consequently, each of the fed letters will strike the upper surfaces of the fingers at a location displaced to the right of that directly below chute 52. The upper surfaces of fingers 54 and 56 extend trans- 'versely of the feed path of the fed letters, and as can be seen in FIG. 1, the upper surfaces of fingers 54 lie forwardly, as to the direction of feed of the letters, of the upper surfaces of fingers 56 when all of the fingers are in their normal position. Consequently, when a piece of letter mail of a comparatively small mass such as a postal card is fed by the feeding .unit 22, it will strike fingers 54 with sufficient force to deflect only the latter fingers. In this case, fingers 54 will be only slightly deflected as indicated in FIG. 2, and the letter of comparatively small mass will thereby be arrested in the direction of feed without substantial bouncing thereof. Letters of comparatively greater mass will, when fed, strike and pivot- :ally deflect the fingers 56 as well as the fingers 54; the latter before the former, of course. This feature whereby the surfaces of several of all of the fingers are deflected by letters of comparatively small mass increases the magnitude of the variation in the mass of the respective letters than can be accommodated by the decelerating device in that, if the surfaces of fingers 56 were at the same level as those of fingers 54, the frictional force by which each finger is restrained would have to be reduced to prevent substantial bouncing of letters of smaller mass. When a letter of comparatively larger mass is fed, fingers 56 as Well as fingers 54 are pivotally deflected as indicated in FIG. 3 whereby at least a portion of the kinetic energy thereof is dissipated as friction thereby reducing their tendency to bounce.

For resetting of the fingers 54, 56 back to their normal position after deflection thereof, each finger 54 has a downwardly extending projection 78 as shown in broken lines in FIG. 4 and each finger 56 has a downwardly extending projection 85. Each projection 78 is engageable with a block 82, and each projection 80 is engageable with a block 84; blocks 82 and 84 being alternated with each other and glued in place along a channel member 85. Channel member 8% is carried at one end of each of three levers d3, and 92, respectively. Levers 88, hi and 9 2 are mounted in spaced relation to each other on a rocker shaft M, the latter being bearinged at its ends by side walls 62 62. Channel member 86 is engageable with a strip 96 of noise-dampening material such as felt or soft rubber carried by a cross bar 98. Cross bar 98 is supported at its ends by side Walls 62, 62. A pair of lugs mil, 1% are carried by channel member 86 and one end of a tension spring 102 is connected to each of these lugs. The other end of each tension spring 102 is connected to a hook 97 carried by the cross bar 98 whereby the channel member and the blocks 82, 84 mounted therein are resiliently biased toward the cross bar 98 and a cam follower roller 104 carried by lever 90 is resiliently biased toward the cam surface of a cam 106. Cam 106 is fixed on a shaft N8 which is bearinged by side Walls 62, 62. Camshaft 198 is rotated one revolution for each letter fed by feeding unit 22; this timing of the cam shaft relative to movement of the pockets 20 as well as relative to feeding of the letters being accomplished by mounting a sprocket wheel 11% on cam shaft 108 and positively driving this sprocket wheel by power-take off means driven, in turn, either by the conveyor as it moves or by the means which drives the conveyor. After each deflection of fingers 54, 56, earn 196 acts against cam follower roller 1% to elevate lever 90, thereby moving blocks 82, 84 against projections d8, 80, respectively, to reset fingers 54-, 56 back to their normal position. Blocks 82, 84 are formed of a wear-resistant, noise-dampening material such as one of the low durometer polyurethane compositions.

Operation of the decelerating device 24 will now be described. With the parts in the positions shown in FIG. 1, fingers 54, 56 are in their normal position, channel member 86 is engaged with the strip 96 on cross bar 98 whereby blocks 82 and 84 are disengaged and spaced from the projections 7% and 84 respectively, and a letter L (shown in bro-ken lines in FIG. 1) is being fed edgewise and is approaching the fingers 54, 56 of the decelerating device 24. A letter L of comparatively small mass will deflect only fingers 54- (see FIG. 2) and a letter of comparatively larger mass will deflect fingers 56 as well as fingers 54 (see FIG. 3), alias described above. In either case, at least a portion of the kinetic energy of the fed letter will be dissipated as friction by the decelerating device 24 thereby reducing the tendency for the fed letters to bounce. After deflection of the fingers S4, 56 occurs, the cam surface of cam comes into engagement with cam follower roller 1% and elevates the latter to raise channel member 86 thereby moving blocks 82 and 84 into engagement with projections 78 and 80, respectively, to return all of the deflected fingers 54 and 56 to the'normal position. Cam follower roller 104 is depicted in FIG. 4 just before riding ofi the end of the cam surface of cam 106. Just after cam 106 rotates in the clockwise direction past the rotational position shown in FIG. 4,

channel member 86 is rapidly returned by springs 102,.

102, to the position shown in FIG. 1 wherea-t the channel member engages noise-dampening strip 96 on cross bar 98 whereby fingers 54 and 56 are again free to be deflected by the next letter fed by feeding unit 22. Each one of fingers 54, 56 will be yieldably and frictionally restrained at any position to which they are moved. Fingers 54 and 56 are formed of a material such as aluminum or magnesium so as to have as little mass, and,

therefore as little inertia, as is practical. A rearward extension 112 of each of the fingers 54 is engageable with a stop 114 common to all of the fingers 54, and an extension of each of the fingers 56 is likewise engageable with a stop 118 common to all of the fingers 56. Stops 114 and 118 are in the form of cross bars carried at their ends by side walls '62, 62, and these stops act as safety means ensuring that the fingers 54, 56- cannot be pivoted, in the direction opposite to that of the feed of letters, to a point substantially beyond their normal position.

The term letter as used herein is intended to denote all types of letter mail including postal cards, pamphlets, filled envelopes, etc.

With the decelerating device as described above, most of the letters are arrested in the direction of feed thereof with practically no bouncing and none of the fed letters bounce sufliciently to project beyond the confines of the respective pocket 20.

Each of the fingers 54 has a gradually upwardly inclined surface 120. Upon moving past decelerating device 24, any pocket which has previously been loaded with a letter by a feeding unit identical to but preceding feeding unit 22 relative to the direction of movement of the pockets 20, that letter will engage the surfaces 120 of the fingers 54 to be elevated thereby without deflecting these fingers 54, and will then ride on the upper surfaces of the letter fingers and then onto and past gradually downwardly inclined surfaces 122 provided by the fingers 56. In this manner, fingers 54, 56 can be and are disposed above the level of the bottoms of the pockets 20 without interfering with letters loaded into any of the pockets 20 at preceding locations.

One advantage of individually frictionally loading each of the fingers 54, 56 against pivotal movement is that only those fingers will be deflected that are struck by a fed letter, thereby keeping the number of fingers deflected (and therefore the cumulative inertia thereof) to a minimum. Also, the greater the lateral dimension of a letter, the greater, most likely, will be the mass of that letter; and the greater the mass of a letter, the greater the number of fingers (with their cumulative frictional restraint) it is desired to have deflected.

Since many changes could be made in the embodiment of the invention as particularly described and shown herein without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that this embodiment be considered as exemplary and that the invention not be limited except as warranted by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for decelerating articles such as letter mail when the latter are rapidly fed edgewise, said device having a shaft, a plurality of fingers mounted for individual pivotal movement about said shaft said fingers being adapted to extend transversely of the path of feed of said articles, and an individual friction means yieldably restraining each of said fingers against said pivotal movement in the direction of feed of said articles whereby at least a portion of the kinetic energy of each fed article is dissipated as friction when any of said fingers are pivotally deflected upon being struck by each fed article thereby reducing the tendency for each fed article to bounce.

2. A device for decelerating articles of varying mass 6 such as letter mail when the latter are rapidly fed edgewise; said device comprising a pair of substantially parallel shafts; a plurality of fingers mounted for pivotal movement about each of said shafts; each of said fingers having a surface adapted to extend across the path of feed of said articles for impingement by the latter; and a friction means yieldably restraining each of said fingers against said pivotal movement from a normal position in the direction of feed of said articles; said surfaces of several of said fingers extending forwardly, as to said direction of feed, of said surfaces of the remaining fingers whereby each of the fed articles of comparatively small mass will be arrested in the direction of feed without substantial bouncing thereof upon striking and pivotally deflecting only said remaining fingers and whereby at least a portion of the kinetic energy of each of the fed articles of comparatively larger mass will be dissipated when each of the last-mentioned fed articles strikes and pivotally deflects all of said fingers thereby reducing the tendency of said last-mentioned articles to bounce.

3. A device for decelerating articles of varying mass when the latter are rapidly fed edgewise; said device comprising a pair of substantially parallel shafts; a plurality of fingers mounted for pivotal movement about each of said shafts; each of said fingers having a surface adapted to extend across the path of feed of said articles for impingement by the latter; a friction means yieldably restraining each of said fingers against said pivotal movement from a normal position in the direction of feed of said articles; said surfaces of alternate ones of said fingers lying forwardly, as to said direction of feed, of said surfaces of the remaining fingers whereby each of the fed articles of comparatively small mass will be arrested in the direction of feed without substantial bouncing thereof upon striking and pivotally deflecting only said remaining fingers and whereby at least a portion of the kinetic energy ofeach of the fed articles of comparatively larger mass will be dissipated when each of thd last-mentioned fed articles strikes and pivotally deflects all of said fingers -the direction of feed of said articles whereby at least a portion of the kinetic energy of each fed article is dissipated as friction when the latter strike and pivotally deflect said fingers thereby reducing the tendency for each fed article to bounce; and means operatively arranged to reset said fingers back to said normal position after each deflection thereof; each of said yieldable means including a friction member, an anti-friction member and a spring; one of the friction members and one of the anti-friction members being disposed at opposite sides of each of said fingers; and one end of each of said springs engaging one of the anti-friction members to bias the latter member toward one of said fingers thereby to bias that finger against one of the friction members whereby each of the anti-friction members tends to prevent the finger adjacent thereto from applying a substantial torque to the spring engaged thereby when that finger is pivotally deflected.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,846,041 Shepard Aug. 5, 1958 

